Start90: How to design your purpose-driven business.

1. Introduction to Start90: Dear phenomenal business idea. I want to start your own business and actually don't know where to start. Well, I can help. My name's Dr. Randall Schober, and I've worked in this industry for over 25 years, both as a consultant and as an entrepreneur. The objective of this course is to take you through the startup process from an idea to a business model. And in fact, no business experience is needed because the course is broken down to 12 modules. Each module is sequential in nature and it has a video and a working brief attached to it. If you were to complete all the working briefs of the 12 modules will actually end up with a fundamental business plan. Within this course, we will address the startup model principles. We'll also talk about market feedback, validation, and importantly areas like marketing to your target audience, as well as finances, etc. Okay, so we're going to cover a lot of topics that are needed in any startup model. The project for this course is for you to complete the 12 working briefs. And if you want to do so, you will actually end up with a fundamental business plan for your startup. You can take this actual model and place it into the marketplace itself. Oh, you need for this course is a business idea. So if you are ready to predict your future by creating it, follow your passions, possibly help with your financial bottom line, then this course is for you. So sign up today. 2. Your Project: So the project for the star non-recourse is for you to complete each of the working briefs. If you were to complete 012, you'll end up with a fundamental business plan. Now, after the completing of each of the briefs, you can actually share those with your fellow students for additional feedback and validation. This will actually help you not only validate within the course itself, but externally with other peers. And that'll also help you guarantee that when you do launch a business, we will launch it. Yes. 3. Why now?: Good day and welcome to your stat non-heme Program. My name is Dr. Randall. I teach at point Loma Nazarene University, a beautiful osha front Christian University in San Diego, California. As an entrepreneur and now professor of it. I've come to appreciate the ways in which an entrepreneurial mindset can change your life and give you the opportunity not only to positively impact your own life, but also make a true difference in the world. You will go to be an entrepreneur or truly become a game changer in your life. Congratulations on being part of this program. You are here because you have a business idea and want to discover whether your idea could actually become a real business opportunity. Starting your own business not only brings about personal purpose and satisfaction, but a balanced life that comes with financial freedom. The course you are about to take will guide you through the steps needed to transform your idea into a viable business. By teaching you the strategies and information required to building a successful, sustainable startup venture. This course will also show you how to ensure your business is providing value. You are promising. Explore options to help your business becomes sustainable and grow and understand what you need to avoid so you can maximize your time and resources. Now is the time to step out of your comfort zone and pursue that career you envisioned when you first started to think about what your future would look like. You've been blessed with unique talents and skills and with your new business idea. Now is the time to make that happen. Because if you don't, what are the consequences? May be, be controlled by financial debt limiting to you what you can experience and risk living just a normal life. Who wants that? By working with young people like yourself in both the business world and academia over the years, I've realized that people like you have so much to contribute to business and society. All you need is a bit of guidance in turning your passions into a profitable and impactful business. Statistics show that only 32% of US employees are actually fully engaged at work in the US today, dissatisfaction comes with a job that has low play and also lacks purpose and meaning. Six out of ten of our largest working generation, the millennials. So that work-life balance is extremely important. Resulting in today's workforce looking at work differently. We now live in a hyperconnected, globalized economy where greater emphasis has been placed on the entrepreneurial mindset and the opportunity for individuals to create their own wealth while achieving personal goals. And no other generation has the opportunity to start your own business being so possible. The combination of web-based personal computing, online communities, or technology has made the business opportunities are limitless. You can now build an organization that can impact a global market. Overnight. I've been through this experience myself. As an Australian, I've had the opportunity to travel the world and witnessed the development of a global startup phenomena. I've been fortunate to work with companies out of Austria, not Australia. Austria called what a venture that is supported more than 2 thousand start-ups and are leading European explosion of this phenomenon. Now entrepreneur revolution is happening. Now. The Fortune 500 is now the fast 500. I'd like never before in history. Are they more choices? More innovation, more technological advances, more industry changes, more opportunity, and more possibilities. Throughout my life, I've always wanted to be a changemaker, someone who makes a positive impact in the world and leaves it a better place than how I found it. This is the foundation of our Christian faith and guides me to lead with love and try to give value to each person I encounter. Having this type of mindset fits it perfectly. But the concept of an entrepreneur, whether you are working within an organization, are building one from our original idea. You are continually seeking how to solve problems, provide a valuable service, or make someone's life easier. This is why I'm excited to build this program so I can help you provide value to others by building a profitable business. Today, I teach entrepreneurship and international business at the undergraduate and MBA level, along with consulting with companies both in the for-profit and non-profit environments. My focus is to help companies develop a sustainable, competitive advantage. As a business world becomes more independent. The amount of opportunities increase, so does the competitive marketplace. And the only way to survive is to continually create value through creative and innovative solutions. And it is this entrepreneur mindset that I installed from the very beginning of a startup's development. And is the difference between your company's success or failure. These are all lessons you will learn in this training. And know this. All the lessons in this course are based on real-world experience and the most recent information that reflects the current hyper-connected global economy. Each week, over the next 90 days, you are going to answer a different question, which will ultimately build your business plan. The first question we addressed is, should my business exist? There are millions of businesses ideas out there, but high failure rate in startups is due to entrepreneurs not truly understanding the problem they are solving. The big picture business concept. Once you tackle this, uterus, cover the most important areas of business. Customers, value propositions, economic, and what is needed to make your business work. I then introduce you to the Business Model Canvas that will help you frame out your business infrastructure. We then take all the assumptions that you are making about your new business and begin to get real-time feedback from your ideal customers to ensure that the value or offering fits directly with their knees. And if necessary, we will pivot your business to ensure future success. This process is critical to help minimize future risks as you prepare to launch your product or service. Next, you'll dig deeper into what you will need to start your business and cover the four P's of marketing as they specifically relate to the startup environment. It will then tackle the type of business you want to create as it relates to size and scope and help you think about, you can possibly scale or grow your business. The last few weeks addressed the basic area of business finance and funding, and the many other essential resources that will increase your success rate, including boards, online tools, and how and why. You would write a business plan. The final module prepares you to launch what is known in the startup world, Azure, minimal viable product or MVP. This is the first version of your business released in the market and is the start of your future career as an entrepreneur. This is the exciting conclusion to the program and the beginning of creating a lifestyle you want. As you go through this course, at times you may feel overwhelmed or that you don't understand in detail the various business strategies. And that's perfectly natural. However, trust the process and to each model to the best of your ability. And I promised at the end, you will look back with more clarity and all the information of dots will align themselves and guide you to launching your first startup. This course is broken up into two sections so you can get the most out of it. The first one, answer the question. Do I have a business? The second part asks, How do I build my business? Each week has two main components. A video covering the topic at hand, working brief that we'll tackle the subject in the video specifically as it relates to your business. These briefs will become your first mini business plan and will outline the infrastructure of your new venture. The final module will guide you into launching your business and provide additional resources that will support you beyond the program. Here are the rules of engagement. Everything worth doing in life requires commitment, perseverance, and getting out of your comfort zone. This course will require all three. Envisioning, building and launching a new business is not easy. Otherwise, everybody would be doing it. This process will require you to follow your passion while being open to pivoting, to ensure you create the most value for your customers each week as essential information for the next. So doing the programming sequence will give you the best results. Now, you might choose to speed up the process and complete the program in less than 90 days. That's okay. But my prediction is that you do each module thoroughly. It will take you up to seven days before you begin. Really think about the why behind this program. Why do you want to build a purpose-driven business in next 90 days? What would this bring to you? How would you this change your life? How this change others in your life for the better. I want you to keep this wide, close at hand and top of mind as you go through each week. Let's get started with the first module titled, should my business exist, have fun, and God bless. 4. Module 1: Do i have a business?: Good day. My name is Dr. Randall and welcome to start where I'm going to walk you through your path to purpose driven business. You are here because you have an idea for a business. Today, I'm gonna focus on this question. Should my business exist? I'm gonna help you determine whether your idea is actually a good business opportunity and what criteria you need to think about when you make that decision. As an entrepreneur, you are a problem-solver. Your idea for a product or service is probably directly related to some kind of pain point that someone is experiencing and you have the solution to it. Or is an idea that will provide benefit to make someone's life easier. For example, a common problem is that most schools that students out at 3PM and parents don't get off work into five. And a solution to that is an after-school program that can add additional activities and two parents can pick them up. Answering the question, should my business exist is a way in which you can start to think about the true value of your business idea. Do you know how many startups fail? More than 90%? That's right. Barely ten per cent get to become a sustainable business. This happens for many reasons, but one of the first ones is that you as the entrepreneur in your excitement, don't truly understand where the problem you are solving is big enough. Happens often enough, or even where the customer wanted the solution the first place. Is there really a true demand for your service or product? It's also important to know that most opportunities are simply a remix of existing products or services or a unique combination and entrepreneur has put together to solve an existing problem. Look at overall lift that invent the car or mobile phone, GPS, online merchant accounts. They saw a huge problem with the public transport system. Identified untapped resources, including that cars, are only used five per cent of the time. And use modern technology to connect available drivers and their cars, the people who needed to go from point a to B. Again, nothing new was invented. Simply an opportunity was created by a remixing of existing products or services into a seemingly new business. Also, you need to know the nature and size of the opportunity or problem you are identifying. And importantly, whether the problem is increasing or decreasing in its frequency. Most industries are either fluctuating and supply and demand are either trending up or trending down. So what are some of the criteria you need to look at to know whether your idea is truly an opportunity that can build a business around. Here are some starting points. One, how many people either experienced the problem or are seeking the benefit you are offering to. Does your solution idea directly solve the problem you are addressing? Three, is a problem or need increasing or decreasing in its frequency, or the forces that are creating the opportunity continuing to grow. The last question addresses the concept of the window of opportunity or whether now is the right timing for your business to exist. Studies have shown that timing can be even more important than the entrepreneur business model or even the idea itself. To be clear, businesses are started in both good and bad economies. So does your idea or solution fit right now into a market that is ready and wanting to purchase it. In modules 56, you will be validating your business idea by going out into your target market and testing whether what you believe to be true is reflected by your customer. This will help you prove that the people who will be purchasing your solution, back up the numerous assumptions you are making. Before you get there, you will need to thoroughly understand who your target market is and a unique value proposition you are offering. I will cover these in modules 23. In module four, you'll be developing your basic business model and begin to determine whether your business idea can actually make money. You'd be surprised how many people launch a business owner find out that their target market either won't pay enough for the product or service to keep it in business, or that they truly don't know what resources are required to make the business function. So in that module, you will dig a little deeper into the nine building blocks that make a basic business function. And importantly, how it can make money and be sustainable. For now, you're going to focus on ensuring that what you believe to be a business opportunity is actually that. To do that, I want to step back from your ID for a minute and think about what the big concept is that you are addressing. If you were to ask the founders of Lyft or Uber, they would talk about revolutionizing the transport industry or saving the planet by minimizing the number of cars on the road. Or Airbnb would speak to how they would like to make people around the world feel like they could be belonging anywhere. Why is conceptualizing your business concept important? Because it speaks to your big picture passion of being part of something bigger than you. To give you a business more purpose beyond just making money will help guide your decisions making and ensure that as you grow, the true meaning behind your original business idea is not lost. Step back from your idea for a minute and think about why you are truly building a business. I can guarantee you that when times get tough. And I will, having a big picture purpose will provide the motivation to push through. This concept is tied to what you are passionate about. And it doesn't have to be as big as saving the world. In fact, often is the businesses that changed a little. But important things in our lives. Making them easier or more fulfilled is often those businesses that are most successful. I truly believe that if your business has a greater purpose and focuses on creating value for others, then you're onto something meaningful and powerful. So should your business exist, take the time to complete the working brief that goes with this module and you'll begin to better understand not only the opportunity that surround your business idea, but a bigger purpose to why you want to start this venture in the first place. Enjoy filling out the first section of your soon-to-be business plan. And I'll see you in the next module when you will find out what makes your business unique. And to close this one out, a quote from Peter Drucker, the best way to predict your future is to create it. Have fun, and God bless. 5. Module 2: Who is my ideal customer?: Good, I took a random here. Welcome back to Stata and your path to creating a purpose-driven business. Last week, you asked yourself, should your business exist? Did you do your homework? What problem are you solving? Is there a sizeable opportunity in your space? So next step is to determine who will buy your product or service and how many there are. This week's question is, who is my ideal customer? Let's take deep into who your target customers are and specifically where you are going to find them so you can sell your product or service. First, you need to determine who are the people who are experiencing the problem you are solving. And have they reached a pain point to where they are looking for your solution, or at least will respond positively once they hear about your business, is important to realize that your customer can either be an individual or an existing business. Many business builds solutions for other businesses, which is known as B2B. If your target customer is actually an individual, then you have a B2C business, meaning business to consumer. So think about it. Do you have a direct to customer strategy meeting the customer pays directly for your solution, or an indirect strategy to the end-user by selling your product or service to another business who uses your solution to add value to their customers. For example, selling agenda to server to a building management business to benefit their clients with a clean building is B2B or an indirect strategy to the end-user. And Zappos, which sells shoes directly to their customer online, is B2C or direct to consumer. It doesn't matter if you are marketing to a business or individual. What's important to understand the benefits you are providing, whether directly or indirectly. The first step is identify your ideal customer demographics. For example, if you are a B2C business, then what is your ideal customer look like? What does the age, group, gender, location, income, et cetera? You'll work in brief, you will fill out these demographics are great way to go deeper and understand both their demographic and psychographic, which includes activities, interests, and opinions, is to develop a customer persona. This is a fictional representation of your ideal customer. It is based on real data along with educated speculation on their personal motivations and more. Many business actually name the persona and use it as a direct way to determine business strategies. For example, Lululemon has a persona by the name of ocean, who does yoga every day, makes up to a $100 thousand a year and data triathlete name mountain. They use ocean as means to determine whether she would like a certain product and even what type of language she relates to. Just in case if you are wondering whether Lululemon has a male persona, they do. And his name is Duik. Now, you might be asking yourself, dr. Randall, what if I'm in a B2B environment? Or the same principles can be used to determine your ideal customer who's actually a business. The demographic slightly change for a business based on aspects like their specific industry, company size, number of employees, or revenue. Stage of business growth. Geographical Pacific's whether or not it's family owned, whether it is a private or public company. And old cases, you need to not only understand your target business, but understand that target customer. They are directly impacting and how your solution will better serve them. But having a very specific understanding of your ideal customer, you can now dig deeper into their buying behaviors. As you continue to build your business, you are constantly answering the questions what and why they will buy Europe solution. But you also need to know the how, when, where they would buy it to. Your persona can help answer these questions. But of course, the best way to find out is to get out into your market and ask them. Modules 56 discuss ways to do this. Having a comprehensive understanding of your ideal customer buying behavior will now set you up to determine how you will sell your product or service. You're selling strategy will directly mimic your customers buying behavior. Once you've answered the WHO, why, when, and where questions about your customer, you will then have the answers to how you market your solution. What solutions you will offer, how and where they will buy your solution and when are most likely to buy. The more you define and understand your ideal customer, the most accessed your new business will be. Now you will look at your overall market, is important to drill down and avoid the temptation to market to the masses, as defined by your ability to specifically define your ideal customer. It is much easier now to develop strategies. When you can pinpoint them rather than trying to target everyone. Remember, you can't be all things to all people. So it's important to define homogeneity, meaning shared needs and buying behaviors for a specific product or service in your market. For example, defining a market as college students is not a market segment because based on the product, there is a huge range of differences in this population. I'm not saying that a majority of college students couldn't benefit from your business. To begin, you must better pinpoint the specific segment within that population who is being affected the most by the problem you are solving. It is important to also determine whether the number of ideal customers you are targeting is growing. The best-case scenario is that the problem you are solving is becoming more and more prevalent. And due to the growth in its frequency, you will ultimately haven't sustainable business. He must be able to answer the affirmatively that your problem continues to trend up or as growing. As best as you can, you need to segment your market. This becomes much easier once you have determined your ideal customer. In its simplest form, your market is how many ideal customers there are. These ideal customers can be segmented up into various groups. For example, if your business opportunity is providing financial management services, then you could segment your market into beginning investors, prime professionals, and retirees. The services you offer will reflect where they fall in your customer segment. Your overall solution doesn't change, but how it is delivered will change. Once you have determined your markets are great way to determine a good segment is to ensure that it is measurable. You can use available data to determine if a segment is sizable. If it is large enough for profitable business. It has homogeneous needs in regards to buying behaviors. Whether it is underserved, if there is define need for your product or service. If a segment is reachable, meaning can you contact them directly? And if the segment is actionable in that they are ready and able to buy your solution and whether that will be sustainable. There was also seems to be an 8020 rule in the markets in that 80 per cent of sales will come from 20 per cent. Prospects are ideal customers. Therefore, it is essential that you target the 20%. How do you do that? Module, I explores the rifle versus shotgun approach to marketing. Also, it's just important to understand who your ideal customer is as to who is not. Believe it or not. Many new businesses get sidetracked and begin to target the wrong markets for various reasons. Often is a lack of research or misunderstanding of the exactly who their ideal customer is. Those entrepreneurs who are successful not only segment their market, but also then prioritize which market to target first to maximize their growth. Modules 45 will look into this further. The last thing we will address in this module is what is known as the innovation diffusion curve. You'll recognize it as the classic bell curve that fits into many areas of business. In this case, it reflects the growth in customers. At the beginning, once the innovators have created the business, he first customers are the early adopters. These are the people lined up the night before to get the newest iPhone. Once the doors open on the first day of sales. The next group are the early majority who will purchase the new product once it's been proven successful in the market. This is followed by the late majority, and at the far end is a small group referred to as the laggards. This group still owns flip phones and probably will never get on board with your solution. Now, why is this important to note? Well, to get significant numbers of customers in your target market is initially essential to nurture your first adopters. Or as author and entrepreneur, Seth Godin calls them your tribe. If you do a great job ensuring that your first customers receive above and beyond results, they will become your supporters and help promote your business so that the early majority will also get onboard. By. As you dig deeper into your customers and overall market, you can begin to identify who will be in these categories and correspondingly strategically attract them into your solution. Ironically, it's also demonstrated that each product or service has a life cycle, meaning less customers will buy after the bell curve peaks. And therefore, it is important that innovation continues to happen to help keep adding value to your customers and the sales cycle will repeat itself. This is showing with each new model of iPhone that is released with early adopters sleeping outside their closest Apple store every year. Now, keep in mind that you can have different types of customers who can contribute to your business. For example, an online retailer may target the end-user who is purchasing the product or service. And companies on the, on that I can advertise on their site. In this case, you will have an ideal end user and an annual ideal business that would benefit from being visible on the side. In both cases, the company is adding value to both customers. Another example is a company like Uber or Lyft, who requires two customers to survive. They need the individual who wants to travel from point a to B by using a mobile app. In addition, they also require qualified drivers who have a vehicle and a time and a start and desire to share their car to transport others. They cannot survive without both of these customers. Need to carefully track and manage both simultaneously to provide the appropriate supply and demand as the market grows. Now that you have defined your ideal customer and determined that your target market is big enough for developing a sustainable business model. The next module covers what will make your business unique in the market? Make sure you complete your working brief so you can use the information as you build your business and closing. I want to re-emphasize to truly niche down your core customer base. As Seth Godin says, everyone is not your customer. Have fun. And God bless. 6. Module 3: What will make my business unique?: Could I, Dr. Randall here and welcome to module three. Last week, you learn more about who your buyers are and the market opportunity. Did you work on your brief and dive into the specific demographics around your ideal customer. How old are they? How much money do they make? What they do for fun? This next module is a big one and it's crucial to your success to understand what makes your business unique and why your ideal customers should buy your product or service versus that of anyone else's. So you will answer the question, what will make my business unique? What makes you unique can be simply defined as your value proposition. What is the bundle of products or services that create value for your specific target segment. And how does your value compare to your competitors? Let's get started with these answers to these questions. Value can come in numerous forms. Understanding how your ideal customer views your value offering is key. Often a business value proposition is based on quality, price, or availability. However, since the explosive use of technology, the ease of shipping, allowing for expansion in the global markets, and the increasing high expectation of the customer. You can no longer rely on basic offerings to separate you from the competition. To be competitive in a very crowded market, your ability to clearly know and explain your value proposition is essential. The best way to know what will separate you and your market is a know your direct competition. In fact, I want you to know your competition so well that anytime you could immediately tell someone in detail exactly what they are offering today and what additional value you are bringing to the table. In comparison, it is important to know not only the features or functions you are offering, but also the benefits. But it's referred to the why they should buy your product. Knowing this will save you time, gives you more freedom and make life easier. Later in chapter eight, which addresses marketing in more detail, it will be very clear why it will be so much more powerful to start with. Why instead of what or how your company offers your product or service. My, one of my favorite speakers, Simon Sinek, have a popular TED Talk followed by a book on the subject, which is included in this week's brief. For your reference. There are numerous competitive analysis tools addressing not only the rivalry within the market, but also the external forces that can compete for your business. However, for now, it's just important to identify that you have two main competitors, direct and indirect. Knowing both his key, a direct competitor is, as it sounds accompanying, that will compete with you within the same target market. Apple and Samsung have been doing this for years. And indirect competitor is a company that could provide a similar solution to the problem you are addressing. For example, Tesla would view the auto e-tron as a direct competitor to his battery powered cars. And indirectly, maybe the BMW i8 or some other similar fuel-efficient sports car. Sometimes even looking at lower indirect competitors, such as the Chevrolet Volt or Toyota Prius, could help Tesla solidify why they are the best. Once again, it is essential that you know the ideal customer you are pursuing and the value you are delivering. In this case, for Tesla. And ideal customer is someone who has a good salary, believes in fuel efficiency, is possibly passionate about saving the environment. Unlike sports cars, tesla does a great job in speaking to that customer and defining what is unique about their cars. Again, how you create value for your local customer is based on your unique bundle or products, or services that differentiate you from your competitors. There are three value disciplines that you can add to your understanding on this matter. One of these disciplines, customer intimacy, which is continuing tailoring and customization of a product or service to fit your customer. Nordstrom does this very well as they ensure intimacy through their customer service. Not to mention flexibility. As the legend goes, Nordstrom once allow the customer to return a set of tires when the upscale chain doesn't even carry ties. Another value discipline is operational excellence, which reflects your company's ability to provide customers with reliable, competitive prices at ease of delivery. This is a focus on company's internal effective delivery systems. Fedex Chinese have packages were delivered by achieving operational excellence. The last value discipline is product leadership, or your ability to provide a continuous stream of new products and services that provide added value to the consumer. Now, you may not have all of these, but your ability to address each one individually and look for ways to improve is a great way to ensure that you will keep your competitive edge and ensure value for your customers. Apple is certainly a candidate for this title. You will tackle these value disciplines in this module. Weeks brief. Relatively easy comparison can be done against your competitors once you have clearly defined the benefits and features of your product or service. Camera companies do this all the time. The good companies such as Canon nikon, will provide an easy to read comparative chart. So you can shop with ease and a psi which camera will best suit your needs. You can also do this in an internal document to ensure that you are up-to-date with your competitors and on what makes your solution unique in the market. What have you believe you have no competition? That your idea is so unique that no one is doing it? Well. I typically believe there are three possible answers to this suggestion. One is that you have not looked hard enough. If there is truly a significant problem you are solving that is occurring a frequently. But it is more than likely than other companies are addressing it. Maybe not directly as you are proposing, but they are still competitive. So look harder. Or there was no competition because the opportunity is not big enough. Or you can't monetize it and be profitable, meaning that it's a problem. But there's no clear way that a business can solve it and stay in business. Often in this case, they may be numerous barriers to entry that will not allow the business to exist. This is going to be due to existing regulations or if the technology needed to support it doesn't exist. The last possible answer is what we would call a blue ocean. Unlike a red ocean which is full of blood, which with competitors trying to each other. A Blue Ocean is an uncontested market, is where a company creates and capitalizes a new demand and Target and an audience that no one has identified. This is what circus delay did to the circus industry by reinventing what a circus experience could be and target a much different consumer. This is obviously an enormous business opportunity and you should pursue it with speed and enthusiasm because a blue ocean will typically turn out read on. Everyone else sees the opportunity as excess you are having. Now, I want to talk about a buzz phrase used in business today. Disruptive innovation. Innovation is what circus LA did to the circus industry. What the T model Ford due to the transport industry at the turn of the 20th century. And now what Uber and Lyft are doing it to the 21st century. Disruptive innovation is a process in which a product or service is transformed in existing industry by adding simplicity, convenience, accessibility, and affordability? Yes. Airbnb has done that for the hotel hospitality business. And yes. And not always, if ever, is liked by the preexisting organizations, are networks that live in that space. However, without a doubt, if your company's value proposition has the potential to completely disrupt an existing industry, then you are onto something big. Once you can clearly define what customer needs you're satisfying, and how you're comparing yourself in the industry, then you will have an understanding of what your value proposition is and what makes your company unique. If, however, after you've done your research, you realize that your initial value is the same as a direct competitor in your target market. Then it may be time to explore further where you can solve another problem. Pivot your solution, until you develop a competitive advantage. Either way, he must know now how unique your businesses to avoid investing more time, energy into a solution that already exist. After completing this week's brief, you'll be able to identify what companies you are competing against. What makes your company unique. There's, of course, we want of your marketing messages as you launch your product or service and attracting your first customers. As always, I wanted to leave you with a quote. This time from the great Mahatma Gandhi. Be the change you want to see in the world. Have fun and God bless. 7. Module 4: How will my business work?: Could I further Randall Here? Welcome back to start nodding. It's week four where you will be asking the question, how will my business work? But first, did you work on your direct and direct competition? Did you determine your value disciplines? Yes. Awesome. In the first few weeks, I talked about if your business idea is actually a good opportunity and whether you can compete in the market and based on what unique value you are providing your ideal customer. Now, it's time to figure out whether your business has an economic engine and can be profitable, and dig deeper into other resources that you need to be considered. A great tool we can use to take a snapshot of your business from 30 thousand feet is the business model canvas that was developed by Alexander Osterwalder. It consists of nine building blocks that are key to putting together an overall summary of your business strategy, including the cost and revenue structure. This is obviously critical to determine whether your business can be profitable. In addition, we will look at a simple economic model that will outline the main variables you will need to consider when pricing out your product or service. The business model canvas has the nine areas essential to creating delivery and capturing value. Starting on the right side of the bottle, answers what value you are creating, to whom you are creating it for, and how you are delivering that value, and how you capture value for the organization or through revenue. The area title, customer segment will be easier to complete as you've already addressed that in module number two, remember to accurately segment your ideal customer, ensuring that you have identified both direct and indirect customers. Next, identify the type of relationship you are going to have with your customer. The two major ones are relational and transactional. Relational describe the relationship in which you get to know your customer in more intimate ways to sell your product or service. For example, if you're selling jewelry, which is a personal item, is important to speak directly to your customer and attract them to your product. And transactional relationship would be like buying a concert ticket online, where the consumers simply wants to get the product to fulfill their objectives. Of course, you can have both. But by truly understanding your core business, you will probably lean towards one. The top of relationship you build will be critical for acquiring, retaining, and up-selling your customers. The channel section speaks to how you are going to communicate to your customer and deliver your value proposition. This will address your marketing strategy and actual delivery of the product or service to your ideal customers. Will you communicate through social media or in other business advertising? Through what channels will be delivering your product or service? Fedex, or by personally delivery. Remember, the delivery system alone could also be one of your value propositions if it's unique enough in the industry. Bobby pocket did this when they disrupted how people bought glasses by filling out a way to deliver glasses through an online portal. They allow customers to choose five frames, have them sent to their homes to try on, choose the one they liked and send the rest back. And of course, in the very middle is the value proposition that you are extremely aware of by now and have solidified in module number three. In the lower right area is where you begin to explore your revenue model. I'm sure you've already thought about how you're going to make money. But your ability to understand the units in which people are paying is critical. Is it a membership model? Do they pay per usage or individually for each product or service sold? Once again, you can have numerous sources of revenue, which I will speak to later in the module when we look at the economic model. Now, look at the left-hand side of the business model canvas. The area of focus on how you are going to accomplish everything and what you will need to make it possible. It's important to realize that no one does it alone and that good partnerships are key to your success. On the top-left area, you'll fill out what key partners you will need to build, run, and expand your business. This can vary from strategic or joint partnerships to companies that provide your control or delivery systems. As mentioned, if your delivery channel is FedEx, then you may negotiate a delivery fee with them and then they will become one of your key partners. Key activities refer to the most important things your company must do on a regular or daily basis to stay in business. As an internal checklist of key events or activities that are essential to keeping your business running smoothly. Below that, you will find key resources. This is where you will list out the most important assets required to make your business work. These can be divided into intellectual, physical, human, and financial. I will expand on these resources in module seven. But for now, write down what you think you will need to get your business started. And lastly is the cost structure. Once you have a good idea of your key activities and resources required, you can also begin to estimate how much is going to cost to develop and run your business. In module ten, I will spend more time on basic finances, but for now, you need to think about what your startup costs will be. My big advice here is to start small and leverage all the resources you have already. If you are like most entrepreneurs, you don't have a lot of money. So be creative to how you can save on costs at the beginning of your new venture. He's a very simplified Business Model Canvas. Let's use the ice cream truck for kids. And actually I just off camera, I write one out. This is the same business model canvas that you have in your brief. So customer segment, obviously it's kids, right? So attracting children, but of course who's paying for it. So we need to figure out how to get the parents involved because obviously they are paying for the product. Customer relationships. Maybe you develop a b by nine and you get the tenth one for free. Or maybe there's a hashtag that you put on social media that people react to or a rating services, they tell you how good their service was, all their ice cream was. Channels. Obviously, social media is a great way to communicate with them. And obviously the truck is the actual means in which you take your product to the consumer. Now, value proposition in the very middle, we can look at the types of ice cream, maybe it's homemade, maybe obviously being mobile. So you're actually taking the actual product to the, to an individual. That's the value proposition. Um, or maybe parents get an ice cream for free when they buy six, That's could be a great added bonus for your business. Now, key activities, what are you doing on a regular basis? What do you do every day? Well, maybe you post on social media every day to tell your customers where you'll be going with a truck is going to be located, or of course, you are actually having to drive. So between the hours of 126, maybe your activities, you drive around with your music running for the kids, the resources. Well, neither truck. So that's one of them. Local refrigeration, it'd be a good one. Maybe you have part-time employees, maybe there you have more than one truck. So employees would be a resource. And obviously partnerships, ice cream supply would certainly be a partner that you would have to have and maybe partner with summer camps and provide your product during the summer to various camps and they could be a partnership for you. Now, on the bottom, of course, you have the cost structure. So what does it cost you to run your business now, obviously, the truck itself cost money and maybe on a lease, the ice cream itself as earlier, a cost structure. And obviously online tools that you may be using, for example, social media or maybe have a website that you're paying for. That's what the cost is. Now of course, the bonus side is the revenue side, and ice cream is obviously your biggest revenue. Maybe you do party packages, maybe you decide to do a party package as well. So we're looking at the nine building blocks. You can certainly have a better idea from a 33 thousand foot perspective, what a business would look like. Okay, now it's time for a quick startup economics one-on-one. The motor you see here is a foundation to any business economic engine. The operating leverage at the very top has to do with the ratio of fixed costs to variable costs. But module ten, we will address these two different costs. So don't worry about them right now. However, it's important to know, understand margins and volumes. Profit margins of course refer to the difference between the expenses, including operating costs, and the revenue make per unit of volume refers to how many units you are selling. And of course, if your margins are high and so your sales, you have a great business. And on the other hand, if they are both low, your business is in trouble. These both can vary based on how you manage your sales. The last two variables help on any business maximize profitability. Number of drivers refers to the variation of products and services that exist in your business. For example, a surf shop could sell long boards and short boards, along with boogie boards and wax. Each one of these would be a driver to increase total revenue. The other is price flexibility. This refers to your ability to modify price based on value to the customer. The identical product or service could be priced differently. For example, the cost is send a package across the country will be different based on how quickly you want it sent overnight or over three days. It is a same service and outcome, but different value based on need or value to the customer. You'll be surprised how many ways you can modify the price you are charging for your service or product based on the needs of the customer. Unique needs become unique value. And customers are then willing to pay more for them. Simply, every business can be broken down to these cool variables. This is a great way for you to begin to develop an effective economic engine for your company. In this book, work in brief, you will find a business model canvas that includes a list of questions in each building block they will help you fill them in. There's also a blank business model that can be completed for your business. A copy of the economic engine model is also included. So you can think about the ratio between your margins and volumes and answer questions related to the number and types of drivers you can incorporate and how you can vary the price based on customers needs. One final thought. Theory is blended. But until it's put into practice, it is valueless. That's from JC Penny's founder, James Cash Penney. Have fun, and God bless. 8. Module 5: What assumptions am I making?: Could I Dr. Randall Here. Welcome back. How do you do with your Business Model Canvas? Did you complete 09 building blocks? What about your economic model? Knowing each component of your business and how you are planning to make money is critical. Today, I will focus on the question, what assumptions am I making? The very beginning of this course, I spoke to you about the difference between an idea and an opportunity. An opportunity exists because there was a market seeking the solution to the problem you are addressing. You then went onto the term and what your value proposition is in relation to your competition. And to identify your ideal customer in that market sector. However, to a certain degree, up to this point, much your business planning is based on assumptions or hypotheses. I'm sure that to a degree, you're pursuing this business opportunity because you have some evidence that a need you are solving exists. And you are confident that once launched, the customers will be seeking it. However, it is important to put away your preconceived notions at the beginning of your development stage and throughout the life cycle of your business to ensure that you're delivering exactly what your customers are seeking. This week, you will learn the importance of truly understanding the opportunity by executing a proof of concept. Or proof of concept is an exercise that takes your solution out into the marketplace for the first time to gain feedback. In many cases, is not a first version of your product or service, but the opportunity to get more information on your ideal customer and whether the business concept you are proposing shows a high degree of interest from them. You'll be amazed at how beneficial the feedback you will get from your first potential customers can be during this exercise and how they can help co-create your business model with you. Even tech giants like Facebook continue to test concepts that fail once introduced into the market. A recent one was Facebook's home scream idea that was originally priced at 9, $9 to two years subscription. And now you can get it for $0.99 due to their own customers not wanting to scroll through a home screen on their smartphones. I certainly don't. The reason for executing a proof of concept is to prove that the many assumptions you have made up to this point, some validity. So the first thing to do is to write out all the assumptions you have made. In the science community. These are called hypothesis. The reason the state your hypotheses is to prove them either true or not. Proving these assumptions. So early in the building process will save you time, effort, and money, and will help you add features or value propositions into your business. So in this module, you are going to write out five to ten major assumptions you're making and then prioritize them based on importance. I'm sure you've made a few assumptions that will need to be proven to ensure that you have a business opportunity. Some key components to hypothesis and assumption testing are, one, ensure that you are speaking to your target audience to have a great enough sample size then shows that you are getting a wide variety of data. Three, choose the most effective and appropriate way to gather the data. And four, decide on a measurement that will reflect that you have proven or disproven your hypothesis. Let's break these down. One, are you testing your ideal customer? Obviously, the feedback you are collecting will only be relevant if you're speaking to your target market. Many people make the mistake of talking to their friends, families, or colleagues about their idea and therefore get responses that are truly don't reflect the ideal customer. Remember, they are not your ideal customer. To how much feedback you get will depend upon how many people you test. Of course, the more data, the more information you have to ensure your business has merit. There is no magic number or percentage, but you must be comfortable that the sample size reflects your first target market. Three, how do you go about collecting feedback will be critical in the value of your data itself. The best advice is to talk directly live with your customers so you can expand on any responses that they are given. Online surveys are possible, but must be structured carefully to ensure relevant answers. Effective surveying is an art in itself. The bottom line is, use a medium that you believe will be most effective. Lastly, have some grading on your assumption testing. You can use that as a guideline to determine whether a level has been reached that proves or disproves hypothesis you are testing. For example, you may need a 60% positive response to move forward. Of course, the best way to establish a proof of concept is to establish a testing tool that mimics the main value proposition that your business will be providing. For example, back in 1999 when Zappos wanted to prove that people would buy shoes online, they set up a shell website, went down to a local store to store, took photos of the shoes on the shelf, uploaded them onto their website, and waited to see whether people would buy them directly from this side. In many cases, this can be called prototyping. Putting a replica of your product or service in order to get a market response. So if I can go only so far, and if you can physically build or mimic your solution and provide a sample of it to your customer, then you get more pertinent feedback. For example, if you wanted to start a vegan cookie company, The best way to test your product is to be given samples to those who on a vegan diet. For feedback. Another term that is used when you are first getting a product out into the marketplace is minimum viable product or MVP. Mvp refers to a product that is not yet perfect, but it's released into the market to determine whether the product or service has market fit. This determines if the market will use and respond to it as expected. And if not, what modifications need to be made to ensure that a positive market response is received. However, typically use the term, typically I use a term later down the development track once you have already proven the concept and are actually launching your product for the first time. Your MVP will never be all that you'd hoped or what you ultimately want it to be. In fact, Reid Hoffman, the founder of LinkedIn, once quoted, If you're not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you've launched too late. You will look more closely MVPs and how strategies for launching your business in module 12, which will be one of the value propositions for this course. So for now, the most important thing to take away from this module is that you have made numerous assumptions leading up to this point that need to be proven in order to move forward. Once you have defined these assumptions, prioritize them, and test these central ones with positive results, you can better manage the risk moving forward. Remember, taking risks is part of the entrepreneurial experience. However, great entrepreneurs manage risk as much as possible by continuing to test the market with their business strategies. Next week, you will look at your results and take the opportunity to pivot where needed. Very rarely will you original concept be exactly how you first envisioned it. In fact, you will probably be modifying and innovating through the life of your business. That's the only normal but also essential for your long-term survival. So right now, it's important that you complete this week's brief. This exercise will typically take longer as you not only have to list out your assumptions and develop a method of testing them, but you will also need to go out into the market and see whether your customers also believe in your business idea. Please don't skip this section. It will provide you with invaluable information that will be the foundation to your business success. Lastly, remember, if you're not a risk-taker, should get the **** out of business. That was from McDonald's Founder Ray Kroc. Have fun, and God bless. 9. Module 6: Do I need to pivot on my business strategy?: Hi, Dr. Randall here. I want to know is a ton of pivot. But first, do you list out your assumptions? Did you test out your ideal customer? If not, I want you to stop this video right now and go back and finish that exercise. It's crucial for your business success. Okay, moving on to this week to answer the question, do I need to pivot my business strategy? Is it time to look closer at the assumptions you are testing in the last module. Like I talked about last time, the last step is easy to miss when you are extremely confident that your business idea, it makes complete sense. And of course, the major argument to that is that you cannot generalize a whole business strategy based on your own opinion. In fact, as you are willing to discover in this module, constant communication with your ideal customer will not only improve your value proposition in the market, but also ensure that sustainable competitive advantage that every company is seeking. Before you look directly at the results from the last module, make sure that your strategy of seeking feedback from your ideal customer becomes an ongoing strategy within your organization. You've experienced in your everyday life, that company has continually seek feedback, rankings, five-star ratings, et cetera, after each use. This helps companies maintain the value that they are promising and provides feedback on how they can improve in the future. This is a major part of the customer relationships section in the business model canvas is continued line of communication to ensure repeated business and customer satisfaction. Your ability to co-create your business gradually with your first customers is part of the lean startup mindset. Lean startup is a popular entrepreneurial book written by Eric Reis that outlines the techniques and mindset to develop such a relationship with your customers. This type of mindset works from a build measure, learn mentality in which you are constantly putting into place validated learning experiments to ensure your next strategic business move has already been proven in the needed and needed in your target market. So whatever business you are in, think about what type of feedback loop you can set up with your customers to ensure ongoing communication with them. But now, look at what you've discovered in the last module. You will need to decide whether you should pivot or persevere on your current business strategy. You need to tune your business engine a little to make it run better. What you are doing isn't what is known as the market fit analysis. Does a business you are proposing fit into the market that is willing and able to purchase it. If not, where do you need to pivot? An organization's ability to pivot to market feedback is assigned. Adaptability or ability to change to market conditions. Your ability to maintain this skill will greatly help you be an organization that survives the high failure rate startup businesses. So where do you need to pivot based on the data collected? Customer segment? Maybe you realize that you are targeting the wrong ideal customer. Maybe customer needs. Maybe you found out that they are seeking this type of solution rather than the one that you are proposing. Business structure pivot maybe discovered that how you were originally going to price, distribute, and capture value was not what your customer is seeking and therefore, need to go back and restructure how your business is going to run. Have you found out some very big and revealing information that was unknown to you previously. That is great. And if so, does this new information change your business strategy? Better to know now, early in the development stage than later once you have invested a lot more time, effort, and money into the venture. The best place to conceptually pivot right now is to go back to the business model canvas and update it based on this new information. Go through each of the nine building blocks and change the information accordingly as much information as you possibly can to the Canvas. This will help you open up possible more ideas on business structure and deliverables. Now, go back and review your notes on the competition. How do you stack up against them with your new pivots? Are we willing to bet that you have a lot more insight into why they behave in a certain way and how you can be even stronger and your value proposition. Remember, knowledge is power and advantage as you build your business. Congratulations for getting this far. You should be feeling pretty good about all that you've accomplished so far. You've been taken a business model idea and develop what is a viable business model that is already gain feedback from your ideal customers. The completion of the past six modules is key to your successful startup. Next week, you will explore what you will need to start and how you can begin to build your business by leveraging your current resources and minimizing initial overhead. When final quote from Lean Startup author Eric Reis, if you are not moving the drivers of your business model, we're not making progress. That becomes a sure sign. Has time to pivot. Have fun, and God bless. 10. Module 7: What do i need to start my business?: Welcome to the second half of your course. How are you feeling right now? Maybe feeling excited, maybe live overwhelmed, or a little uncertain. I promise you that's all natural. Whatever you're feeling is, alright. I want you to stick with it because I know it'll be worth it. In part one, you explored, do have a business. Now in part to the question is, how do you build your business? Specifically this week, I will cover as your first module of part two, what I need to do to get started. Let's back up for a moment. You're here because you have identified and validated a business opportunity. At the end of the last module, you assessed your results from an exercise that got feedback from your ideal customer and made any changes or pivots accordingly. Now, in week seven, you're going to begin to determine what resources you will need to launch an MVP version of your business. As a reminder, an MVP is a minimal viable product that will be your first version of your business and you identified target market. It will not be all that you have imagined for the future, but you need to get started. You will be modifying and innovating all the time. But you need to get a product out there to begin the process. Like every startup, the amount of resources is going to be limited. That's why you start small and organically grow as more resources become available. So what will your first MVP look like? What do you need to make it possible? I bright resources down into six areas. Physical, relational, intellectual, human, technological, and financial. Physical describes items such as equipment, space, vehicles, et cetera. Relational refers to key partners or networks required. Intellectual speaks to branding, logo patterns, database, etc. Human of course is who do you need in your business, including Salesforce engineers, online web developers, et cetera. Technology refers to what's needed to make your business work. For example, online merchant accounts or online marketing tools. And lastly, financial refers to where you will get your money from. Once you have determined how much you will need to start your company, it could come from personal savings, credit cards, maybe a bank loan. You will look much more closely at these specifics of financing in business. In week ten. As a startup, you must always consider your ability to leverage resources. There are so many ways you can gain access to resources without having to purchase them with money. And experienced entrepreneur will minimize the financial overhead by maximizing or leveraging whatever resources are available to him or her. You don't have to purchase everything. So here are some other options. Give equity, allocate equity two key players whose skills or resources you need to launch your product or service. Maybe you need a borrower resource, especially if you only need it for a limited amount of time. Share. Many startups share resources such as office space, marketing channels, et cetera, as they begin their companies lease or rent. The majority of central equipment or machinery required to start can be least oriented. This is a great strategy until you have the capital to buy it. Maybe better. What do you have someone else needs? You might have skills or access to resources than another person or business might need. And they may have other resources that you need. One up BARDA, your resources, creating a win-win scenario. Partnerships. The concept in a startup is that you know, and does it alone. One of the keys to successful startup is essential partnerships. Again, it can be very effective to strategically partner with another business that can provide resources you are lacking. And our mutual agreement. Online outsourcing. This refers to your ability to utilize internet based organizations that can provide you with central services to assist your business. These types of services are essential for your survival, but may not be a core component of your end product business. For example, very inexpensive services addressing needs such as HR, CRM, or financial assistance, branding, and more can all be found online. I've used numerous such resources to minimize my overhead and build my businesses. As one example, I used 99 design.com to help with logo design before you go out and potentially hire a local business or professional to take care of some of your fundamental business needs. Look online and see what's available. In any business, cash is king. So your ability to reserve real money by leveraging resources available to you is going to be key. And as mentioned, this is always important and never more so than the very beginning of your business. Start small, target, a small niche market, and expand according to the demand. Remember, following the launch of your MBP, you are going to learn a lot from your customers and you'll be modifying your product or service accordingly. So start small and grow as you gain traction in the marketplace. Before I leave you this week, I want to cover something known as the Timmons model. I like it because it simplifies the importance of resources adjustment based on opportunity. As you can see, it is made up of three main areas, team, opportunity and resources. At the bottom, which is the foundation of the model, is the team. The core team describes the decision-makers who ensure that both the opportunity and resources are imbalance. Imagine that you have launched your business and your opportunity expands. This can happen for many reasons. Maybe you've got some great publicity on a local television station or were chosen from Instagram as a company to watch. And suddenly you have ten times the number of orders. Overnight, your opportunity has grown and a balance is now heavy on the opportunity side. Clearly the meat, the opportunity and meet the demand. You will need to adjust your resources very quickly. You will need to increase your resources. An example of this could be to increase production numbers which may require extra capital or hiring additional contract is for your service-based organization. Whatever it is, it is essential that you do it to meet the opportunity. So you can balance sales and or avoid earning a poor reputation because you could not deliver on your product or service. The classic scenario is that you get accepted to be on TV show Shark Tank, which provides huge national exposure. In anticipation, you increase inventory or key resources to match the opportunity following the episode being shown. Of course the opposite could happen, and often does. You lose the contract. You are anticipated marketing campaign wasn't as successful as you'd hoped, or a new competitor has entered your space. All of these scenarios and many more can reduce your opportunity to survive. You will need to reduce your resources to maintain balance and consequently overall expenses. Maybe you slow down production, moved back to a shared working space, reduced hours for your contract workers. It doesn't mean you are going out of business. It just means you know, how to survive another day and we will adjust businesses strategies. Once again, increase the opportunity. Your ability to be agile enough as a company to adjust, to shift in demand or determine your sustainability to avoid becoming. One of the statistics of filed companies. As accessible entrepreneur knows, this is part of the startup and adventure and is savvy enough to carefully watch and prepare for shifts in opportunity and respond accordingly with resources. He or she will ensure that the team is designed with all the key players to help make these decisions. The foundational team may also be modified according to the author or reduction of an opportunity. This team is typically made up of the founding members, key employees, and advisory board members. More information on key personnel in our startup venture will be covered in week 11. For now, your next step is to complete the introductory list of resources you will need to start your business based on how you're going to acquire them. This will help you determine your startup cost, which will be covered in Module ten. To wrap this up so you can go and complete your resource exercise included in your working brief. Quote in this module comes from Jeff Bezos, the founder or CEO of Amazon. I knew that if I failed, I wouldn't regret that. But I knew the one thing I might regret is not trying to have fun. And God bless. 11. Module 8: How do I market my business?: Welcome to module number eight. This is the big one. So let's get straight into it. How do I market my business? As you know, this subject can be massive. If you get into all the components and strategies attached to this subject. However, you can take a deep breath as I'm only going to cover some of the basics as it relates to the startup environment. Firstly, I define marketing is any activity that makes a transaction happened. And it's one of the most creative aspects of your venture with unlimited possibilities. I'm serious when I say that the possibilities as to how you can get attention for your business and make transactions is limited only to your imagination. The classic marketing mix, what is known as the four P's, is made up of product, promotion, price, and place. Places sometimes referred to as distribution. But of course, that starts with a D and not a P. So that wouldn't be as clever. The marketing mix refers to how these four classifications work together and reinforce one another. I will talk about the four P's specifically as they relate to a startup venture, there is little doubt that marketing as a business strategy has changed significantly over the years. As a much more competitive and globalized market has evolved, market has become a much more consumer-focused with the development of a very intimate relationship, which a lifetime values carefully monitored and pursued. And of course, the customer expectations, as we like to customisation and ability to voice opinions and provide feedback have become more prevalent. Due to advancements in technology. We have moved from mass marketing to segmented, to niche marketing, to relational marketing, and to what we now see is one-on-one marketing. Now customers expect to be personally identified an experience, a very relational transaction would encourage a loyalty and a lifetime value to the organization. To achieve such loyalty, as in the past, companies need to clearly know and understand their customers so they can build this relationship. Delighting the customer is a key, especially as highly competitive business. Well, now let's back into those four Ps. Product. Your product or deliverables at the beginning, should be simplified as much as possible to encourage a very clean marketing message. Yes, it's important to have numerous drivers in your product range, but I must compliment each other based on your customers needs. You want to have the width and depth of products that they would need to ensure variety as well as individual needs. And we're strategically, your ability to have a product that requires repeated sales is key. For example, the rise of industry are happy to newly give away the razor handle because they know their main revenue will come from the ongoing sales of the blades. The same can be seen in the Keurig coffee machine, which achieves high revenues from the sale of the individual coffee pods. If your deliverables is service-based, then focus on both the tangible and intangible components of your servers and show that you deliver it in an effective and timely manner as promised. However, also be aware of all the intangible areas of your business. For example, if your server's requires a waiting room experience, what does that look like? Old magazines indicate that you are out of touch with what's new. And healthy plants show signs that you are not empathetic to needs. Which translates into the customer's wondering how they will be treated. And of course, the opposite is true. Things like handwritten notes to thank customers for their business, or unprovoked bonuses. Show you truly value to your customers happiness. And then you are committed to providing a positive experience. Managing carefully what the customer sees and why they never see. We'll differentiate your business from your competitor competition. This alone is incredible marketing. Word of mouth marketing is one of the most powerful strategies as a company can develop. And this can only happen when the customer truly believes that the organization cares. Alright? Pricing. When it comes to pricing, the most important lesson to understand is that pricing is more than cost is a statement of value. It is one of the most flexible tools available to the entrepreneur. I along with the product, is also about creativity. The price of your product or service will convey a certain message as it relates to value. With every business, there is an enormous array of ways you can use pricing as marketing tool. For example, bundle or unbundle your products. Low base price. And so add-ons, memberships, or pay per usage. Again, how you price your product is limited only to your imagination and customers needs and expectations. As in all businesses, your pricing tactics will depend upon overall cost, reduce what the competition is doing, the market demands, or unique value you are providing. Any overarching legal regulations and the idle customer you are targeting. Each one of these variables should be considered when you price your product or service. The bottom line is, it needs to be able to price flexibility based on value. Customers expect to pay more for greater equality. Quicker delivery, uniqueness, or scarcity of a product is important to understand this and price accordingly. Don't price too low. It's always easy to lower prices and raise them because you've undervalued your product. To begin with. Promotion. Promotion speaks to channels of communication you use to speak to your ideal customer. Overall, there are four types of channels. Advertising, which typically is a paid medium to get your idea with customers attention. Publicity, which is your unpaid channels including word of mouth, and possibly a trending video that promotes your product or service. Personal selling, which involves a Salesforce. And lastly, sales promotion, which includes tactics like rebates, coupons, and things like that. As always, the most critical part of promotion is understanding your ideal customer. Are they seeking your product or service online? And if so, how easy can I find it on a search engine? Maybe in social media? And if so, what type of social media? These are the types of questions you need to be able to answer. A good place to start is to go back to your customer persona development developed in module two and strategize around where they are living and through what message and medium they can best be contacted. Place or distribution refers to when and where your customers saves the product or service. This includes the speed in which the customer saves your product or service, The Management or supply chain. And most importantly, the various channels they can receive your product or service. That's going to occur directly or indirectly. Meaning either they receive it directly from you or from a middleman or third-party organization. This will directly affect how you market your product or service. You might have heard of the push pull strategy in marketing. If you are choosing to use and organizational middleman to distribute your product or service, you can choose to market directly to the end-user who then goes to the middleman to purchase. This strategy, utilize a lot of advertising and it's called a pull strategy. As you are pulling your customer into the store. Or you can market through the middleman and work with them to push your product out to the end-user. The strategy is often seen as being more effective and less expensive. In the end, you need to figure out what would be the most efficient and effective way to distribute your product or service? Toby, you begin to form and pitch your business. I've included an exercise in the working brief that you can put together that will quickly outline your business. This could be the start to your marketing in an effective manner. It is called an elevator pitch, as it is designed to be a precise promotion of your business that only takes enough time for you to go from ground to the third floor or approximately 30 seconds. As I mentioned, the most accessible marketing considers how these variables work together, which I referred to as the marketing mix. How do the full pays work together to attract and produce a transaction with your customer? In the cellular environment, sometimes the best ways to determine the most effective mix is just to give it a shot and measure the response. In module two, I briefly mentioned the rifle versus shotgun approach strategy. Are you targeting your customer? This refers to the level of commitment he may have to in any specific channel of communication. Many startups will try numerous different techniques to help determine the best way to communicate with their customers. These are referred to as the shotgun effect. You are spending a limited number of resources on numerous strategies to determine which one is most effective. Wants a single type of strategy has been proven effective, then greater manner resources are dedicated to that strategy. This is called the rifle affect. Your company now has a greater marketing focus based on trying numerous different marketing mixes. This is a great way to minimize risk and get the best bang for your buck. Successful marketing requires simply understanding your ideal customer so well that they could be a close family member. You know, what they like, what they don't like, where they spend their time, and where and how they buy. And as a loving family member, you do your best to make their life easy and keep them happy. Lastly, he may have heard the term guerrilla marketing, as it's defined as an innovative, unconventional, and low-cost marketing technique aimed at obtaining maximum exposure for a product. An example of this is painting over a steaming City manhole to make it look like a cup of coffee to promote a local cafe. This technique is typically focused on the mass market and can be effectively used for startups, especially when local exposure or advertising as needed. Again, like I said at the very beginning of this module, marketing options is only limited by your imagination. So take a look at today is brief and complete the four Ps and your marketing chart along with the elevator pitch. If you do this, you will have the beginning of your first marketing strategy. And to close this out, another great quote from Peter Drucker. The aim of marketing is know and understand the customer so well the product or service fit him and sells itself. A fun. And God bless. 12. Module 9: Is my business scalable?: Can I factor Randall here? Can you believe it? You're on week nine. Did you go through your four P's of marketing? How is your elevator pitch? Have you been practicing your pitch? That I want you to explore the question, is my business scalable? At the beginning of every business venture, consideration needs to be given to what type of business you want to have, and in particular, how big you want your business to be. Not entrepreneurs, want to be responsible for and manage a very large, multi-million dollar organization from the foundations of America and Australia. May entrepreneur was founded family-owned businesses. And we're very contend with building an organization that adequately sustained a very comfortable living, such as single restaurant or product for a local or national market. However, other entrepreneurs build businesses to take over an industry or market share. This type of business strategy for these two examples are very different. There are some simple terms to help distinguish between the types of businesses that an entrepreneur will start. The first type is survival business. This is a type of business you see often in third world countries consisting of individuals who worked to ensure that basic human needs of food, water, shelter are met. Many non-profit micro-financing organizations support this type of entrepreneur. The next is a lifestyle business. Example is the classic family-owned restaurant. This business provides a significant income that can support a family with all the basic needs along with money for education, holidays, etc. This type of business would include the majority of businesses in the US. Next is a managed growth organization. This business model has a built-in strategy to grow. The entrepreneur has a vision of owning a percentage of market share, which correlates with a high organizational value over a certain period of time, typically years. And the last high-growth business. This is a strategy to reach a massive market potential in a short amount of time. The recent expansion of pokey man on an international level, an example of this type of venture, capturing a significant market share in a short amount of time, once launched. So it's important now to think about what type of venture you want to create. And along with that thought process, if you want to become a managed or high-growth business, think about how you can scale it, is tougher strategies should be considered at the very beginning. Some businesses are easier than others. Many online or software based businesses, MicroStrategy easy. Could you use an internet platform that allows for numerous users? Many service-based businesses have used the franchising as a means to become scalable. Others gradually grow the reflection of market demand and even in some ways, control the growth strategy so that they can ensure their ability to meet the demand for the product or service that reflects the quality promoted. Interestingly, many businesses have actually gone out of business due to a growth opportunity that they didn't have the resources to manage. Remember, when I talked about the Timmons model in week seven, that modal gravelly shows the balancing act a company must perform between its team, resources and opportunity. As you grow, you must continue to ensure that a scale in the model does not tip towards one side or the other, is typically the opportunity that will determine the resource allocation. As it increases or decreases, you need to actively and quickly respond to remain that, remain that balance. During the recession, many companies had to downsize to balance out the decrease in opportunity. I know personally entrepreneurs in industries from software to medical devices who lost contracts or development funding and had to significantly reduce overhead accordingly. And of course, as the company grows, maybe it obtains a new distribution channel or the accessible marketing campaign. So i increases the required resources to meet that demand. Again, we covered the six types of resources in module seven. I feel free to go back and brush up on both the Timmons model and resources. As you begin to strategize about your business model and optimistically believe your business will grow. You need to think about how you can scale your business. If you're going to choose a lifestyle business, then this question is not as relevant. However, if you are considering being a managed or high-growth business, that this needs to be taken seriously early. Obviously, there are various ways you can grow your business by increasing opportunity. You can grow within your target market, are getting greater penetration or getting new customers. Maybe taking over customers from your competitor, adding extra value for your current customers and upselling them to purchase more. Some companies find ways to grow outside of the original industry for finding synergies with other markets that have some similarities. Many companies have grown by accessing the global market, by exporting and setting up foreign operations or joint ventures. The strategy you choose for you based on your specific market or customer segmentation or deliverables, annual personal desire for expansion. Again, there are many formal ways you can expand your thinking. A franchise model makes most sense. Then as you start your business, you want to put in place turnkey processes and infrastructure that can be easily reproduced. If you're looking in the future towards a global market, then it's important to set up your business foundation that will ultimately support such an expansion. This could include software that can expand international markets, a marketing strategy that uses universal language, and maybe internal processes that will allow for overseas shipping. For your benefit, I have included in the brief various ways in which your business can grow. From a growth perspective, It's good to think of your business as a person in that it will begin with Inception, then go through an early stage of survival during infancy phase, followed by growth phase. Once you get a strong market fit, and then expansion until you become a mature business in your chosen industry. Each stage requires various forms of leadership and decisions to help ensure you progress to the next stage. Of course, finally, couldn't occur at any stage if you don't continue to pursue a sustainable competitive advantage. But most new companies are most at risk at the very first two stages within the first three years of existence. Just a quick note, to get funding from an investor, you will need to prove that your business is scalable. Of course, they are looking for a return on their investment. And this is only possible if the business can grow in a controlled and efficient manner, determining what type of venture you want to build and how you scale it will help you set up the right strategies early on. By completing this module is working brief. You will gain greater insight into your business future objectives and strategies needed to get their tongue wrap this one up with another quote. The light founder and CEO of Apple, Steve Jobs once said, unconvinced, that about half of what separates successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance. Have fun, and God bless. 13. Module 10: How do I tackle finances?: Congratulations on making it to week ten. This week, Let's get right into it. The question is, how do I tackle finances? Your ability to know, understand, and execute good financial practices is crucial for your startup's success. This is a big topic because a high percentage of file new businesses ventures are the result of poor financial actions. I need to be open and honest. Here. His area of startup development is not my favorite because I'm more of the idea strategist type guy and not really a numbers guy. However, if you ask any successful entrepreneur, they will tell you that this part of your business is the most important for your survival? Yes. Your value proposition, team, access to resources, et cetera, are important to get your business off the ground. But without an appropriate and effective financial measurement and plan, your business will not be able to survive the turbulence that is part of the startup venture. Overall. Accounting is the language of business and we'll communicate to you on a regular basis how healthy you are. You can look at the numbers from two angles, managerial accounting and financial accounting. Managerial accounting ask the question, what do the numbers tell me? It involves identifying, analyzing, and interpreting the numbers to help make corporate decisions and strategize to pursue your organizational goal. Successful entrepreneurs who know and understand the numbers so well that given the financial statement, they will quickly be able to tell whether their company is doing well or that's in trouble in both the short and long term. And based on their interpretation of the numbers, they will quickly make decisions to increase the opportunity or minimize the financial bleeding. The other one, of course, is financial accounting, which keeps track of your company's financials transactions. These are typically presented in three key statements. Your income statement, cashflow statement, and balance sheet. All three are important as each one will give you a different financial picture of your organization. I'm not going to go into depth of these three statements in this module. But know that your ability to build and maintain all three will give you the best opportunity to conduct effective managerial accounting and continually steer your company in the right direction. However, there are some key principle that I would like to cover today. The first is, as you may have heard before, cash is king and the lifeblood of your business. Your cashflow statement will give you the best view of money coming in and money being spent in your business. It will look at all sources of money coming into your business, not just sales. It will consider all the payments going out, not just expenses. To have cash available is critical, especially during the month when sales are low, lower than predicted. And or unforeseen circumstances. Even have access to a bank note or loan that can help you get through tough times is a key strategy. Misconception is that the faster you grow, the more cash you will have. The real truth is that the faster you grow, the more capital you will need. Also, as you think about finances, one of the first exercise is the guestimate startup costs or what resources you will need to begin your company. Back in module number seven, I explain the types of resources you may need. And in this module, you do your best to list out everything you think. You need to get an MVP out into the market. I haven't given you a list of possible items, so you can easily mark off ones you need. There may be items like regulatory licensing or insurances that you may not have even thought of. Once you've completed it, then it will be important to separate them into fixed and variable costs. Of course, this list will change and grow as you launch your product or service. I will quickly explain fixed and variable costs for your financial statement. Variable costs change in direct proportion to your corporate deliverables. For example, the cost of manufacturer and send your product to your customer, or to provide the service you're providing is a variable cost. So of course, as you increase or decrease the amount of units you deliver or the amount of people you are serving. These costs will change in direct proportion, up or down. Your fixed costs will, however, remain the same despite any increase or decrease in sales. Once you add your fixed and variable cost together, you will get your total cost. This is your number to determine what your break-even amount is. Meaning how much product or service you need to sell to cover your company's cost. Once you have this magic number, what is made after that will be profit? Is magic number can be measured in how many units or services you need to sell, or simply a revenue dollar amount. Of course, each product or service sold should have a profit margin attached to it. This amount is called the contribution margin, which simply means it contributes to covering whatever fixed costs you are accumulating. Once all these individual contribution amounts add up to equal your total fixed cost, then you have reached break-even and everything after that is now overall corporate profits. If this is a little confusing right now, don't worry. As you build your business, it will become easier. The best way to learn this is to go and do it. And by the time you launch your business, you will know it much better. And of course, this is where a good accountant becomes very valuable. In module number four, I discussed the basic economics of a business and briefly addressed your cost. And importantly, where your revenue will come from. So it'd be good to go back to the business model canvas and add any additional information to the key resources. Activities are costs and revenue sections. So what happens once you determine your startup costs and have done as much as possible to leverage the resources you have available using the many techniques addressed in module number seven. It is time to get monies to buy essential resources or inventory to launch your business. Where does it come from? Most entrepreneurs pay for their businesses by what is called bootstrapping, which comes from the phrase, pulling yourself up by your bootstraps. Which still makes no sense to me. But it simply means you are financing your own business and not taking any form or external money's. This money may come from personal savings, credit cards, which is not recommended, personal loans or elsewhere. The next type of funding may come from the three F's. Friends, family or false? Yes. Your friends and family who know and believe in love, You may give you some monies. Then there are these fools who for some reason want to gamble on your idea and give you money. This type of money is typically called risk or seed money. Once you've exhausted your personal funds and contexts and it's time to seek external monies. These can come from numerous other sources, including crowdfunding, like Indiegogo or Kickstarter, additional debt financing, angel investors, and possibly venture capital moneys. A type of funding source will depend on numerous variables, including how much you need, how soon you need it, and why you need it. The important thing to know about financing is that as you grow, you'll continually need more. And the best time to secure funding is when you don't need it. It's critical to plan ahead and get funding in preparation for the next growth strategy. If you need money immediately, that means you possibly miss manage your finances and money is harder to come by, or what you are willing to give up in equity or interests, just maybe too much. In your brief, I've included a basic funding chart that shows the type of funding that could occur based on what stage your businesses in. As shown. It starts with bootstrapping and could end up in an IPO. Obviously, only a small percentage of companies ever get to a public offering, which circles back to the first comments in this section. Your ability to know, understand, and execute good financial practices is crucial for your startup success. Which brings me to this end cap from toning shape. Ceo of Zappos chased the vision, not the money. The money will end up following you. So press forward, work on your brief, and I'll see you in the next module. Have fun. And God bless. 14. Module 11: What additional resources are important?: Good day. Dr. Randall. You take a good look at your finances last week. You know the realities of your startup business costs and cashflow. It's time now to look at a list of additional key resources that have been proven to be critical in the success of a new venture. That you're going to answer the question, what additional resources are important? The moral of this list is that no one does it alone. Every entrepreneur is limited by time, experienced skills, traits, and resources, and will need to reach out for help. Even Michael Dell, the founder of Dell Computers, once said, If I walk into a room and I'm the smartest person there, I'm in the wrong room. You continually want to surround yourself with people who can add value to your venture. One of the first strategies is to seek out an advisory board to help guide your business development. This can be an informal group of people you know and respect that can come from numerous backgrounds and can be simply use as a sounding board as you go back-and-forth with your business idea, structure, and development, they are unlike a formal board which is initiated to cover the formal infrastructure of a legal business entity. They are there to help you define the problem you are trying to solve and provide industry or business strategies as you go through the main startup topics covered in this program. Of course, choose your advisory board wisely. Pinpoint your individuals that firstly, you can trust and respect. Then focus on business background, entrepreneurial experiences, or industry knowledge. These individuals can save you from possibly targeting the wrong problem or ideal customer early on, and therefore save you much time, effort, and resources down the road. What's unique to this new millennium for startup ventures that never existed in the last century is the extensive amount of support resources available to new entrepreneurs. These have come in two main forms. As I've mentioned in module number seven, there are massive amounts of internet-based companies that can help your startup with online tools that can take care of basic business needs, legal and HR, web development, e-commerce, CRM, and sales, and project management, just to name a few. Many of these tools have a free version and or inexpensive monthly fees that can save enormous amounts of money if you were trying to outsource them to a local brick and mortar organization. I've included a few of my favorites and this wigs brief, but realize there are many new ones coming online every day, climbing to add new additional value at a cheaper price. The explosion of these online tools reflects the growing trend of businesses infrastructure going more and more online to save corporate overhead. In addition, there are numerous very informative blogs and podcasts you can find online. The other major supporting forum is the entrepreneurial ecosystems that are developing in your local area. The expansion of co-working spaces, incubators, accelerators, and networking groups, all designed to support the startup entrepreneur has greatly increased the success of a startup. No longer do you have to work alone out of your garage, although it does still happen. But now you can choose to be part of this entrepreneurial group, where you can share challenges and get advice from entrepreneurial peers and experts. In fact, I'm talking to you right now from one such space in Southern California. This type of co-working space will house fellow entrepreneurs who are working hard on their own businesses and is a place potential investors come to seek out new startups to fund. Incubators or accelerators are specifically designed to provide these central resources that every startup requires that will work with brand new startups and ones that have launched an initial MVP into the market. Some will actually invest in your startup for an equity deal. Therefore, your success will also be their success. So they are encouraged to provide meaningful and pertinent resources to ensure your success. Some additional key resources or personnel, such as attorneys to help set up your legal entity or intellectual property at lawyers who can protect your business infrastructure. If numbers are not your thing, then a strong accountant will be vital. Also the use of consultants to help with specific needs such as digital marketing or web development may be needed. Especially if you are new to these areas. Again, many of the resources can be found online. But based on time and experience, consultants can be worth their weight in gold. As I effectively take your company to the next level. I continued to use consultants to fill in the areas that are not strong at and helped me advance my startups in a much shorter time period. Also, having a relationship with a formal funding source such as a bank or lender will be important in the future as you seek to grow. I quickly want to chat about the formal business plan. May be asking yourself if you need to write one. The answer to that question depends on for what purpose you want to do it. Completing a comprehensive business plan has numerous benefits. The first is that it is a great way to work through every aspect of your business. There may be areas that you have not thought of and a business plan will address them requires focus, discipline, and research will assist in strategic development. Some vessels like to see a business plan as proof that you have taken the time to look at your business from all angles. However, it should only be written once you have proven your concept in the real-world. Words on a page, adjust that unless they reflect a business opportunity that has gotten positive feedback from your target market that is needed or older is interest. Therefore, a formal business plan should only be written after proving market fit and should be used as a living document. In that, as pivots occur or strategies change, it is updated in all areas that reflect that change. I know many successful entrepreneurs who never had a formal business plan. However, they addressed the sections covered in every format based on your preference and skills and need. A business plan can be a handy tool in your venture development. And have you addressed potential risks to your business? An outline of a business plan is included in this module to give you some guidance on this resource. Another very handy exercise to help develop your business is to put together a pitch deck. This could be described as a visual version of a business plan, is often used as a presentation medium to sell your startup to potential investors. But it can be used to show your venture to selected advisors for feedback. Either way, like the business plan, it will require you to tackle the core components of your venture, including problems, solutions, market, financial opportunities, value propositions, competition, management team, et cetera. I've also provided an outline of a business pitch deck in this handout. One of the major takeaways for this module is to attract and nurture relationships. Say yes to meeting people and openly discussing your business opportunity. A huge entrepreneurial myth is that if you tell people about your idea, they will steal it. This is far from the truth. There are a million ideas out there and very few ever a backed up by entrepreneur to have them become a reality. The more you share your idea, the more feedback you will get to reinforce or God, your business idea and even a better direction. Of course, once you have solidified your idea has been proven itself in the marketplace. Then if you want to get legal protection of your idea through a trademark or patent, than do so. But don't make this a priority and to market fit has been established and the company is growing due to demand. The last thing I want to address is the most important asset you have your team. As shown in the Timmons model. This is the foundation of your business. In most start-ups, this begins with just you, or maybe you came up with this business with idea with a friend. Now is the time to look introspectively at yourself. What strengths do you have that will support your startup? And importantly, what areas of expertise do you need to move forward? If you are found in this business with someone else, then as a business partner, how well do you compliment each other in relation to your individual knowledge, skills, and experience? Business partnerships are like a marriage. And like a marriage, you need to trust each other, be compatible, and be willing to spend an extensive amount of time together. So choose wisely. Your core team can be made of numerous types of personnel. As mentioned, it may be just you and your business partner. Then based on your needs, you may grow your team by hiring full or part-time employees, outsourcing contractors or consultants, or bring on partners with equity deals. Remember, your core team is a foundation of your business and as such, it can make or break your venture. Build your team carefully, understand exactly your needs and resources. You have to meet them as expressed at the very beginning of this module. Now on does it alone, your networks can and should be your most valuable resource. Never underestimate the importance of people you connect with in person or online through portals like LinkedIn. Understand that although they may not seem relevant to your business now, being authentically interested in them can pay huge dividends later. Be a connector, introduce people to others who you think they would benefit from and you will be connected to. No matter what. Serial entrepreneurs always say, people before program. If you put people first, both inside and outside of your business, you will be blessed with great partners, customers, and co-workers. Finding them and maintaining positive and authentic relationships will be your greatest resource. So you're nearly there. One more module to go. Please make sure to complete this week's brief as includes numerous questions to help you determine what resources will best help your business. Now, remember, in the words of Ken Blanchard, none of us is as smart as all of us. Have fun. And God bless. 15. Module 12: What are my next steps? : Congratulations. Take a moment to take a look back and think about all that you've accomplished. Many may decide to start this journey, but very few will make it all the way to the very end and complete this path to the purpose-driven book business. So well done. Today, we will consider what are my next steps. If you've watched all the modules and actively completed your briefs, then you will have the foundation of your new business. In fact, if you would have put all the handouts together, you will have what appear to be a mini business plan. The areas covered are the foundation of your new venture is a modeller. Yes. A specific section could be expanded into their own 90 day course. However, one of the biggest problems to start-up opportunities is they just never get started. Many people you speak to will say that they have a great idea, but it's never involves into a business. Why? Because they never take that first step is easier to be safe and justify that you don't know enough or timing is not right. Surprisingly, many successful entrepreneurs will admit that I knew less than you do now. And in spite of this, that we're passionate enough or fellas enough to step out and give it a go. Taking risks is part of the entrepreneurial adventure. Risks can be easily defined as the difference between what you expect to happen and what actually happens. As you prepare to launch your business, you are going to have to take risks. However, successful entrepreneurs take calculated or managed risks that actively pursued data or information that will help them eliminate the probability of failing. For example, if you're repairing to market your business online, part of spending money on a specific site, which you would believe would work. You gotta about testing numerous online media sites and determine the most effective one. Now it seemed logical, but many failed startups don't perform these learning experiments to determine the best strategy. Of course, as it relates to risk. Whether you complete an MBA in Entrepreneurship or just step out and try your business idea, what is inevitable is that you are going to fail. I'm not referring to catastrophic failures such as losing your life savings. You are going to fail. Failing is just part of the startup journey. How can it not be? You are trying something for the first time, producing a new product or service and targeting a new customer. But for entrepreneurs, it's about how you file and your attitude about it. John maxwell, a popular American author on leadership, wrote a book titled failing forward, which reflects how entrepreneurs fail. They learn from errors and without losing momentum, continued to move the company towards while shifting strategies to avoid repeating the same era. Thomas Edison once said, while inventing the light bulb, I haven't failed. Just found 10 thousand ways that don't work. Treat failure as tuition. Learn from it. Manage the risks as best as possible, and keep moving forward. And try again. It's time to take the first step and launch your minimal viable product, or MVP. I first introduced this in module five. But as a reminder, it refers to a product that is not perfect, but it's released in the market to determine whether the product or service has market fit. You can see if your ideal customers bonds well to your product or service. And if not, you're gonna determine what modifications need to be made to improve it is your first true beta test and is launched to only a select few who understand that the product or service is not perfect and are willing to test it out for you and provide constructive feedback. Here are some tips for launching your MVP. One. Understand this is not going to be your best delivered product or service. So get over the need for perfection. To carefully choose how many people and who you will use as your tribe to experience your product or service for the first time. And three, importantly, ask for feedback. The more information you can get from your first customer, the more opportunity you have to improve it. For. Offer your product or service at a reduced price, or possibly free to give your first customers even greater value. And as a reward for being part of your beta test. Number five, view this first test as the beginning of an ongoing process of improvement to your new venture. If done right, the launch of your first MVP will be the start of an ongoing relationship with your first customers. And the controlled expansion to more customers based on your capacity to deliver. Remember, it is more important to grow slowly, making sure that you continue to improve and maintain quality of your product or service. Then to grow quickly and deliver a poor product. You now have the basic information needed to launch your MVP and to get your business off the ground. And as mentioned, the completed briefs will serve as a foundation or business plan for your startup. These should be a living document that you continue to update as you make changes to your business based off of your customer needs and feedback. Along with lessons learned as you fail forward and modify your strategies accordingly. I am truly excited and proud that you have come this far. And if possible, I want to support you and your new startup. I have one final invitation for you. I would love you to join starting on a launch. It's a basic community online people through a Facebook portal where I can interact with you one-on-one and help you build your business. Give you feedback on some challenging you may be having and provide the necessary resources that you need as you move through your program. So have a look on your online portal and if I can help you in any way, please do not hesitate to ask. Thank you for standing up and being a member of start nodding. I pray that you enjoyed the opportunity that you have to start your own business and that it provides you fulfillment for you and your future. Thank you. And God bless.